Let's start this review by Horace with one simple fact: Paul Helman and Sean Scaplehorn did an amazing job. We had already said it in his PC review, but we repeat that this little gem was created by two humble developers who are passionate about a game design concept capable of transmitting soul, warmth, emotion. Horace was born conceptually there, in that garage typical of the 80s where a person wants to create something of his own and share it with the world; the tools today are obviously other and it is no coincidence that what has been with us for days now is software extremely mature, satisfying, profound but visibly mirroring a limited production, but - beware - absolutely not limiting.
We're playing it on Switch thanks to a perfect port, no frills (just a couple of slight drops in frames in excited situations), competent and adapted to the portability of the console, the perfect match for this union.
The narration
Horace gives Switch a platform with decisive shades of progression, but not only: it also gives a tender, warm story: that of a robot that tells itself in a modern universe but at war, with a cast of bizarre but well-balanced supporting actors. This is perhaps what is most striking about Horace: the narration, the delicacy, the strength of a character who draws from other works, but who despite this has a unique vital impetus, excellently grafted into the many lines of dialogue of the intermission scenes.
We wrote about it more than a year ago and the judgment has not changed one iota: the level design gimmicks fully convince, the physics of gravity works, the mini-games are a quick but enjoyable condiment, the dynamics of the jumps can be chewed immediately, response to commands is immediate and precise, uploads make failure a non-frustrating option. Horace is a captivating title emotional force of a world at war that spares no one but which, at the same time, is immersed in a well-calibrated tank of humor that sometimes lightens rather touching or raw moments. You understand that for such a title, based on speed, control comfort, retro soul, Switch is the ideal platform and the work done is excellent, both for mapping the commands and for the technical realization of the port.
The game structure
Actually there is also another reason not to miss Horace again: the personality of the developers has made the software full of quotes and a structure very nintendian in perception. Let's be clear, we are not talking about ideas or style, but about dry but deep playful transmission, millimeter but not frustrating, varied and correctly weighed in its administration. Almost every mini-game it is studied, fun, but in most cases not necessary; yet, despite the surplus of material, the team has literally filled Horace with references to the retrogame past, to arcades, to arcades, to a concept of exaltation and amazement that was typical of those places, in those golden times.
Then we leave the past and Horace is tinged with absolute topicality, with satisfying, complex platform sections, not difficult bosses - thanks to a loving system of checkpoints - but nice for the playful ideas that compose them. A balance that has taken us from the first moment, always inserted in a narrative context that has rhythm and drags, reviving the desire to know how this story of affection and trust continues. Playing all this creative flow on the Switch is trivially the ideal way to enjoy the opera: this is clearly a portable minded title, from immediacy, from pause and resume, from travel and from earphones.
Comment
Digital Delivery Nintendo eShop Price 14.90 € Resources4Gaming.com8.5
Readers (9)
8.3
Your voteHorace is not the title that was missing from the already huge Switch catalog, but it is a product that stands out incredibly thanks to a crazy balance of the playful component and a great depth on the narrative front. Helman and Scaplehorn had already wowed on PC, but it is on the Kyoto house hybrid that Horace is at his best. Fast, fresh, immediate, layered with an enviable sound sector: the story of the robotic protagonist continues with enormous pleasure, thanks to a unique dialectical style, delicate, almost warm and capable of making the android become attached in an instant. An excellent port that blends great with Switch.
PRO
- Perfect on laptop
- Delicate in the story, hardcore on the pad
- Ideas well grafted into the playful flow
- Some mini-sections quite fine in themselves
